Attorney-Advisor (General)

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With an emphasis on high ethical standards, excellence in public service and the delivery of superlative advice and counsel, DOI Solicitor's Office performs the legal work for the U.S. Department of the Interior, and manages the Departmental Ethics Office and Departmental FOIA Office. With more than five hundred total employees, more than four hundred of which are licensed attorneys, the Office strives to provide sound legal services to fulfill the Department's diverse and wide-ranging mission.

This position is located within the Department of the Interior, Office of the Solicitor, Indian Trust Litigation Office, located in Washington, D.C.

At the full performance level (GS-14) the major duties of this position include, but are not limited to the following:

• Analyzing and interpreting federal statutes, rules and regulations, and other guidance, including program authorities, relating to the authority of contracting and program officials to meet departmental and program goals.
• Providing on-the-spot legal guidance in the resolution of complex procurement, administrative, and program issues.
• Conducting legal research and producing opinions and memoranda requiring a high degree of creative legal effort, judgment, and discretion, often harmonizing conflicting positions in areas with little or no precedent, while promoting goals of uniformity, simplicity, and efficiency. Ensuring that information regarding possible violations of law is referred to the Office of Inspector General (OIG) as required, referring other matters for OIG investigations as appropriate and providing technical assistance to the OIG in the analysis of potential ethics violations;
• Performing legal research concerning novel and complex issues, reviewing documents for the Regional Solicitor or Assistant Regional Solicitor and for DOI agencies, drafting legal opinions, providing formal and informal advice to DOI agencies, and often drafting agency decisions;
• Drafting litigation reports to guide the Department of Justice (DOJ) and assisting DOJ in litigation, including working in close coordination with DOJ representing the Secretary of the Interior and the various bureaus of the Department in federal courts;
• Conduct comprehensive electronic document review using e-discovery platforms to identify, categorize, and analyze documents for responsiveness, privilege, confidentiality, and legal significance in litigation and administrative proceedings;
• Manage all phases of discovery, including planning, implementing, and overseeing document collection, preservation, processing, review, and production in accordance with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, agency policies, and litigation hold requirements.
• Draft and prepare discovery requests (interrogatories, requests for production, requests for admission, subpoenas) tailored to the factual and legal issues in pending matters.
• Draft and coordinate responses to incoming discovery requests, including gathering responsive materials, preparing objections consistent with applicable legal standards, and ensuring timely and complete productions.
• Oversee privilege review and privilege log creation, applying attorney-client privilege, work-product doctrine, deliberative-process privilege, and other protection doctrines, including the use of technology-assisted review and privilege-screening tools when appropriate.

Salary Information: First time hires to the Federal government normally start at the lower salary range of the grade level.
GS-12: $102,415 - $133,142 per annum.
GS-13: $121,785 - $158,322 per annum.
GS-14: $143,913 - $187,093 per annum.

Basic Qualification Requirements
Applicants must be law school graduates with LL.B. or J.D. degrees AND applicants must be an active member in good standing of a state, territory of the United States, District of Columbia, or Commonwealth of Puerto Rico bar.

• To qualify for a GS-12 applicants must possess at least 2-years of professional legal experience following law school graduation;
• To qualify for a GS-13 applicants must possess at least 3-years of professional legal experience following law school graduation;
• To qualify for a GS-14 applicants must possess at least 4.5-years of professional legal experience following law school graduation;

For any of the grades indicated above you can also substitute one year of experience with any of the following:

• have a second professional law degree; OR
• meet any of the criteria indicated below;
  1. academic standing in top one-third of law school graduating class;
  2. graduation with academic honors;
  3. significant participation on the law school's law review;
  4. significant participation in the law school's moot court competition;
  5. significant participation in a clinical legal aid program;
  6. significant summer law office clerk experience; or
  7. other equivalent evidence of clearly superior achievement.

Candidates should have excellent oral communication, writing, research and analysis skills, and the ability to work effectively with other people, and exercise sound judgment.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g. Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Additional information on the qualification requirements is outlined in the OPM Qualification Standards Handbook of General Schedule Positions and is available at OPM's website:https://www.opm.gov/qualifications/standards/indexes/num-ndx.asp

All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement.